Miguel Gomez: Why I Love Miyazaki's Films

In celebration of our retrospective of Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki's films, showing on 35 mm as part of our Saturday Kids Matinees, Viva Video!’s Miguel Gomez explains why he thinks audiences of all ages should see Miyazaki’s animated gems.

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Why I Love Miyazaki's Films
By Miguel Gomez, BMFI Patron and Viva Video! Owner

BMFI's Saturday Kids Matinees have been a bounty of wonderful so far this month, featuring the works of one of my favorite directors, Hayao Miyazaki. My son, wife, and I have been entranced by both My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service so far, and we can't wait for the remaining films in the series, Spirited Away (my personal fav) and Ponyo (a wonderful version of “The Little Mermaid" aimed at the younger set). The magic and beauty of Miyazaki's work has been clearly evidenced by the fact that, although the screenings have been filled with young 'uns, the audiences have remained quiet aside from appropriate laughter and even some clapping upon the films' completion!

Prior to Spirited Away, Miyazaki had been making films for years; Spirited Away is his eighth feature film. All of them are 100% worth your time, particularly Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke, which aren't part of BMFI’s Miyazaki Retrospective. I find Spirited Away of particular interest because of the way it straddles children's cinema and cinema for adults. The imagery in this film is of such incredible creativity that anyone watching it should be floored by what they see.

A scene from Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away

Heads up adults! Make sure you have your child's hand nearby for you to hold when you watch Spirited Away. The surreal nature of the film is downright freaky to those above the age of ten. Having rented the movie to families for years over at TLA Video, and now at my own shop in Ardmore, Viva Video!, I have never encountered a kid that was scared by the movie, but most adults that have watched it (and loved it) could definitely use their child's hand for comfort during some of the more surreal moments in the film.

Miyazaki's films are interesting for a few reasons. First, the pacing and narrative arcs are really different than what you may be accustomed to watching. Both My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service (screened earlier this month—I do hope you saw them, they are fantastic!) are just a bit off-kilter. Conflict plays out to a different rhythm, and the third acts are generally more low-key and subtle than we see in most films. Kiki's Delivery Service even includes a fair amount of story during and after the end credits! These films are lovely, and tend to seem like a window into these fantasy worlds, which feel much more real due to these structural shifts. It's hard not to imagine the stories continuing outside of the bounds of what you see in the theater.

Also of note is the feminist nature of Miyazaki’s films. It is rare to find a film—movies for adults included—that features strong, well-rounded female characters as agents of action. His characters don't depend on males to get them through troublesome scrapes and they aren't entirely pre-occupied with finding a boyfriend. Impressively, they aren't presented as one-dimensional tomboys either. In Kiki's Delivery Service, Kiki both saves the boy from certain death and wants to wear a pretty dress. In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (not shown at BMFI), the main character is a warrior princess of sorts who fights for her land and the environment. I feel embarrassed for the film industry as a whole when watching Miyazaki's children's films portray more three-dimensional female characters than most of Hollywood's output intended for adults. If you have a girl child, you owe it to her to show her these films and undo some Barbie-style harm. If you have a boy child, you owe it to our society to show these films to them to combat what preconceptions they may have gotten about female roles from pop culture!

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BMFI’s five-film tribute to Hayao Miyazaki continues Saturday, March 23 with Spirited Away and concludes with Ponyo on Saturday, March 30. Screenings are at 11:00 am and are presented on 35 mm film, the way they were intended to be seen!

Miguel Gomez, in addition to being a Haverford College grad and an all-around good dude, worked at TLA Video in Bryn Mawr for thirteen years. After TLA closed last October he opened up his own video rental store in Ardmore, Viva Video! The Last Picture Store to continue to bring all manner of cinema from Alphaville to Zombie to the Main Line. Visit him at his store and get updates at www.viva-video.com or follow Viva Video on Facebook.

Alan Webber: Why I Love BADLANDS

BMFI patron and film fan Alan Webber shares with us his reflections on Terrence Malick's directorial debut Badlands, the first film featured for discussion in our four-week Special Topic: Philosophy on Film - Terrence Malick’s World program, which starts on Thursday and is sponsored and presented by the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium.

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Death and Poetry on the Prairie
By Alan Webber, BMFI Patron
*Spoiler alert*

One of the perks of getting married is that your spouse brings to the marriage all of the great books and authors she has come to love. Thus, it came to be that my wife introduced me to the “prairie” stories and novels of Willa Cather (1873-1947), most notably My Ántonia (1918). A true masterpiece of American literature, My Ántonia is a lyrical tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who settled the harsh landscape of the Nebraska prairie where Cather had spent her youth. In My Ántonia, the land becomes a character and shapes everyone on the hardened soil and under the vast prairie sky. It is a novel of astonishing beauty.

Like Cather, Terrence Malick also is enraptured with nature, and this is immediately evident in his debut feature film, Badlands (1973). This film changed the way I view all movies, and in its own way, Badlands is as much a masterpiece as My Ántonia.  In addition, when writing and directing Badlands, Malick was inspired by real events that took place in the same Nebraska landscape where Cather had grown up.

Caril Ann Fugate and Charles Starkweather, the inspiration for Terrence Malick's Badlands

Charles Starkweather, the notorious “Mad Dog Killer”, emerged from rural Nebraska as a poor 19-year-old in the waning weeks of 1957. He fashioned himself to be another James Dean after seeing Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause, and was frantic to marry his baton-twirling, 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. Starkweather had failed at every job he encountered, which was another reason he wanted to get out of the Nebraska town where everyone thought of him as a loser. He had what people today would call an “attitude problem,” himself noting that, “...the more I looked at people the more I hated them, because I knowed (sic) that there wasn’t any place for me with the kind of people I knowed (sic).”

He and Caril Ann would embark on a two-state murder spree that horrified the country and left eleven people dead, including her mother, stepfather, and half-sister. They were captured on January 29, 1958. Charlie was executed seventeen months later, while Caril Ann served seventeen years in prison, always claiming that she was a reluctant participant.

Charlie and Caril Ann’s deadly exploits from 1958 have inspired more than a few American artists, and several films have been directly influenced by them, including Tony Scott’s True Romance (1993) and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (1994).

Terrence Malick's prairie landscapes in Badlands are integral to the film.

In Malick's version of the events, the story is moved to the South Dakota prairie where Martin Sheen, in a great screen performance, plays Kit, a 25-year-old garbage man who begins dating Holly (Sissy Spacek), a 15-year-old schoolgirl who is inflamed with romanticized notions of love despite her boring life. She is smitten with Kit because he looks like James Dean and, as she says, “he wanted to die with me.” When Holly's father (Warren Oates) discovers the relationship and forbids Kit from seeing his daughter anymore, he is gunned down. Kit and Holly end up on the run from the law, and as they make their escape, they leave a trail of death behind them. Holly’s stream-of-consciousness narrates events, revealing her belief in her romance-novel fantasy to be unwavering and stating that it is “better to spend a week with one who loved me for who I was than years of loneliness.”

Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as the murderous young lovers in Badlands

When Kit sets fire to Holly's childhood home, I realized that Badlands was no ordinary film. This scene is set to the music of Carl Orff's "Musica Poetica", mesmerizing pieces of artistry that are echoed again as Kit and Holly go into hiding in a forest and roam mindlessly across the empty prairie. There is additional music by Eric Satie and George Tipton, which is touchingly romantic in contrast to the events on the screen.

It is this contrast between the violence of Kit and Holly’s lives and the lyricism of Malick’s visual and aural expression that gives the film its greatness. As they are driving north to Canada, the lights of Missoula, Montana on the horizon, they seem to enter a mythic landscape. We almost hope they will make it and forget the violence that they have wrought. In a big, stolen Cadillac, they leave paved roads and ride across unfenced prairies that connect them to the pioneer settlers who came to the land in the century before, and whom Cather loved so dearly.

On the way, as Roger Ebert has noted, “There is always much detail, of birds and small animals, of trees and skies, of empty fields or dense forests, of leaves and grain, and always of too much space for the characters to fill… There is a strong sense of humans uneasily accommodated by the land.” This is a recurring theme in Malick’s films, as it is in Cather's “Prairie” tales, especially My Ántonia. Badlands is haunting, violent, and disquieting--a lyrical descendant and an artistic equal of Cather's masterpiece--and one of the greatest American films.

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Thanks, Alan!

Film fans, if you would like to submit a post of your own about a movie or film star that you love, please contact Devin Wachs with your idea.

HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE: A Q&A with Activist Peter Staley

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Manager, BMFI

AIDS activist Peter Staley never thought he’d be going to the Oscars. Yet this year he accompanied the director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague on Hollywood’s big night. Featured in the film, Peter has been a key AIDS activist since shortly after being diagnosed with AIDS-related complex in 1985. He led ACT UP’s 1989 campaign to force lowering the price of AZT, the first FDA-approved drug treatment for HIV, and became the Founding Director of the Treatment Action Group (TAG), whose successful lobbying for radical changes in how the government's AIDS research efforts were managed led to the creation of the Office of AIDS Research. President Clinton appointed Peter to the National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development in 1994 and he has served on the board of amfAR, the foundation for AIDS research. 

In advance of Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s screening of How to Survive a Plague on Wednesday, March 13, Peter answered some questions via phone about the film and how its success has impacted his activism.

We’re so glad that you can come to BMFI’s screening.

It’s great to come home. I’ve been in New York since 1983, but I grew up in Berwyn and I went to Conestoga High School, class of ‘79.

That’s great. How to Survive a Plague was recently nominated for an Academy Award. What was it like attending the Oscars?
It was amazing, kind of dreamlike. As a gay kid, I grew up watching the Oscars from as early as I can remember and I never missed one. I never dreamed in a million years that I’d end up attending them. It was a dream come true—fun and exhilarating. Regardless of the outcome for the film, I had a blast.



Peter Staley (far right) with David France, Howard Gertler, and Joy Tomchin on the Oscars' red carpet.

Has the film’s success changed your activism strategy? How?

It has. I was largely inactive when the film came out. I’d just finished ten years of work on a website that I created for people with HIV [AIDSmeds.com] and I was looking for the next chapter of my life. Since this film came out at Sundance fifteen months ago, I’ve been traveling around with it doing Q&As and it’s gotten my juices going again. I’ve been working with current activists on some projects to put this recent celebrity to good use.

Can you tell us a little bit about your current projects?

One of them is a problem that a lot of people are frustrated with: the lack of engagement in AIDS activism from the community that started it all, the gay community. As the movie portrays, it was the gay community’s strongest moment. We rose up and fought back and got the treatments that are keeping people alive today. But after the treatments came out, we kind of turned our backs on the cause. Among gay men, specifically younger gay men of color—the fastest growing group of HIV positive Americans—infections are on the rise again. 55,000 Americans become infected with HIV every year. We’ve got a lot of work to do in this country. It’s not the death sentence it used to be, so people think the job is over, but it’s not. Getting the gay community reengaged in fighting HIV/AIDS is something I want to work on now.



An archival photograph of Peter Staley being arrested during a protest.

How did you get involved in the film?

Director David France came to me when he first got the idea, almost four years ago now. He told me his vision for the film and asked if I had some VHS tapes from those years. I had a whole bookshelf of them, mostly old news broadcasts. He cleared out my collection and went off and made the film. After that, I didn’t have much involvement myself except to come in for the contemporary interviews like the other featured activists did.

I remain stunned by the beautiful work of art he created and how he captured that extraordinary moment in time, especially considering that he’s a first-time filmmaker. I find the film to be intensely honest.

Thank you, Peter.

Learn about these brave AIDS activists' efforts to get life-saving medications developed and available for the patients who needed them and ask Peter Staley your own questions at Bryn Mawr Film Institute's screening of How to Survive a Plague and Q&A on Wednesday, March 13 at 7:30 pm.

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Devin Wachs is the Public Relations Manager for Bryn Mawr Film Institute. She joined BMFI in 2005, following her graduation from Bryn Mawr College. If you send BMFI a message on Facebook or Twitter or are interested in onscreen sponsorships, she's the one who'll be in touch!

The $650 Film: Advance Interview with DOSTOYEVSKY MAN's Larry Loebell

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Manager, BMFI

Can a feature film be successfully shot on an iPhone? Larry Loebell—award-winning director, writer, dramaturg, and professor—proved that it can, and how. His new drama, Dostoyevsky Man, is a locally made gem that features stage favorite Seth Reichgott as an out-of-work Russian Literature professor who turns to kidnapping in a bid to reclaim his job. The film, inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella Underground Man and adapted from Larry’s own play, was named a “top pick” by the Philadelphia Inquirer after premiering in the 2012 Philadelphia Live Arts/Fringe Festival.

Larry Loebell's Dostoyevsky Man stars Seth Reichgott as an out-of-work Russian Literature professor who takes extreme measures to get his job back.

Larry was kind enough to answer some questions via email in advance of Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s screening of the film. Keep reading to find out more about his inspiration, casting the lead, shooting on an iPhone, and how teaching has impacted his work.

The film script is adapted from your own play, The Dostoyevsky Man. What made you decide to revisit the story and turn it into a film?

Dostoyevsky Man was first written as a short screenplay when I was in graduate school getting my MFA in film. I actually shot a version of that script, though it was very rough. Over the intervening years, I have revisited the piece several times. In its first incarnation as a play it required seven actors. But it never quite felt right to me in that form, and I think the whole time I knew it was essentially a told story—a long monologue. For me, the story and themes have stayed relevant, perhaps even more so now than when I first wrote the piece, because of the social disruption caused by the economic downturn over the last few years. So there were artistic and philosophical reasons that I returned to it. But there was also a practical reason. It is the one play of mine that had not been produced. I thought it was a worthy project, and I was not ready to declare it an orphan. Thinking of it as a monologue and rethinking of it as a story for camera occurred at the same time. I knew that I could make it with a very small budget (which was all I had) if I made it as a one person movie with myself as the one person crew. And I thought aesthetically it would work as a story told to a smart phone camera, as if the main character was making his own video.

How did you decide to cast Seth Reichgott in the lead role?

I have spent the last fifteen years working in the theater and I met Seth some years ago when I dramaturged a play he was starring in. We hit it off, and I have seen a lot of his stage work since then. When I started thinking about producing this, there was really no one else I wanted in the role. I thought he brought the right mix of literary passion, anger, and humanity to the part. I knew he would be a great collaborator, and I think the results bear me out.

The film is shot on an iPhone. How did you determine that this was the technology you wanted to use?

In some ways the decision to use the iPhone was simple. It seemed to me to be aesthetically correct to shoot this project on an iPhone since that was the [story] set up. It’s a one person piece about a man telling his story into his own smart phone, so there was a certain practical logic. The question was whether the outcome would be watchable. I spent some time doing tests with my own phone, and also consulting with some tech-savvy friends, and I became convinced that I could achieve what I wanted using the phone as the primary camera and sound recording device—assuming I was careful about it. My initial assumption was that Dostoyevsky Man would never be projected. I knew I wanted it to be part of the Philly Fringe Festival but I thought that perhaps its public showings would be in a room with multiple small screens. I assumed that after its initial showing I would create a Vimeo channel for internet distribution. Also, I have a certain affection for the Golden Age of Television “Teleplays” and in many ways the writing of this piece seemed to me to parallel that style more than “film” style, and so small screen seemed more likely to me than large. But as we began to look at the footage, it became clear that it could be projected, and we ended up projecting it on rather large screens during the Fringe.

But there were also other factors in my original intention. I wanted to create an example for my students that spoke to how these democratized tools could be used to create finished work. My film students often feel limited by their lack of funds, and lack of access to top quality equipment, particularly. I wanted to use the tools I had at hand. And I also didn’t want to put a lot of money at risk. I already had the phone. I created a budget to do the rest. Our hard costs were under $650, which we made back at our premiere showings.

You teach film and video production as well as writing for the stage and screen at several local universities. How did your own experiences in academia influence the way that you approached the story?

I love college teaching and have been doing it part or full time since 1974. I have had my share of both positive and negative experiences in academia. I don’t think it is possible to spend as much time on college campuses as I have (or in any job, probably) and not experience both the best and worst of it. I have watched fine people exit places for reasons that were not unlike the ones I present in Dostoyevsky Man, and I have seen people who are simply time markers and place holders stay in academic positions long after they should have been gone. But overall, my own experiences have been very positive. I love the classroom and I find my students and my colleagues energizing, engaging, and inspiring. What more can one ask from one’s workplace? And I owe much of my skill as a writer and director to my own teachers whose lessons still echo in my imagination after all these years.

You can ask Larry your own questions at Wednesday’s screening of the film, after which he and lead actor Seth Reichgott will be interviewed by radio host Phillip Silverstone.

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Devin Wachs is the Public Relations Manager for Bryn Mawr Film Institute. She joined BMFI in 2005, following her graduation from Bryn Mawr College. If you send BMFI a message on Facebook or Twitter or are interested in onscreen sponsorships, she's the one who'll be in touch!

'To Rome with Love' Raffle Winner

Thanks to everyone who supported BMFI by entering our 'To Rome with Love' raffle! We drew the winner at Sunday's Oscar Party. Congratulations, Edward K. Miller!  Edward, along with three guests, will enjoy a seven-night stay in a beautiful apartment located on the Via Frattina in the heart of historic Rome. With such sights as the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and Villa Borghese nearby, we trust this will be a most memorable and exciting trip. BMFI wishes Edward and his guests safe and happy travels.

Devin Wachs: Three Reasons Why I Love Oscar Night

Bryn Mawr Film Institute is gearing up for its The Best Exotic Oscar Party on Sunday, February 24, featuring the Academy Awards simulcast on the big screen, a gourmet buffet dinner, exotic décor, raffle drawings, and more. Learn why Public Relations Manager Devin Wachs loves this special night.

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Three Reasons Why I Love Oscar Night
By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Manager, BMFI

One of the first Oscar ceremonies I vividly remember involved Roberto Benigni climbing over chairs to reach the stage to accept his award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, the first given to a male performer in a non-English-speaking role. That was fourteen years ago, and I’ve tried to watch at least some of the broadcast every year since.

Why do I love the Academy Awards? Here's my countdown:

3) The glitz and glamour.
When every fashion faux pas or bad hair day that an actor has is broadcast around the world instantly online and in celebrity gossip magazines, it’s nice to see a little bit of the classical Hollywood glamour return, even if it’s just for one big night each year. Seeing starlets posing in designer gowns with their hair done just so is a nice dose of fantasy. I know that I’ll see a shot of them in yoga pants running to the mini-mart when I open my browser the next day, but they really do appear larger than life for a little while.

2) It’s a game.
I may not always see every nominated “Best” film or performance, and until the short films began being distributed to theaters (we’re showing the Oscar-nominated animated and live action shorts starting today), I never saw any of those. Even so, I love making predictions about who is going to win. It’s like a giant, global game for film buffs and anyone can join in on the fun. Several years ago I even won a prize for getting the most predictions right in our office. (Which isn’t to say I got them mostly right—I didn’t—I just had more luck than some of my colleagues did.) Even when prizes aren’t on the line, it’s fun to test yourself to see how well your cinematic ideals match up with the Academy.

1) Dreams come true.
What child or teen who loves film hasn’t imagined winning an Oscar and practiced their victory speech? I know I certainly did. (It is a very gracious speech.) Winning is still the ultimate validation of one’s work in the film industry. Although the value of that endorsement and how it is determined can be seriously debated, “And the Oscar goes to…” is the stuff dreams are made of. When I watch the Oscars, I imagine what it must be like for the people called to the stage. Some might think displays like Benigni’s are showy or crass, but I love it when winners show how excited they are. It makes me think that my own dreams can happen too, however unlikely or improbable. And that’s the real reason why I love the Oscars.

Those are three reasons why I make watching the Oscars a yearly ritual, and why I’ll be catching as much of this year’s ceremony as I can at BMFI’s The Best Exotic Oscar Party. I’d love to compare ballots with you.

What do you love about the Oscars? Tell me in the comments below.

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Devin Wachs is the Public Relations Manager for Bryn Mawr Film Institute. She joined BMFI in 2005, following her graduation from Bryn Mawr College. If you send BMFI a message on Facebook or Twitter or are interested in onscreen sponsorships, she's the one who'll be in touch!

The Best Exotic Oscar Party Contest: We Have a Winner!

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Manager, BMFI

Thank you to everyone who entered our contest to win two tickets to BMFI's The Best Exotic Oscar Party! We enjoyed reading about which Best Picture nominee you thought should walk home with the Academy Award on Sunday, February 24.

Entries were judged on how persuasive and creative they were. We enjoyed all of them, but one proved to be a resounding favorite.

Whether or not Beasts of the Southern Wild wins the gold, film fan Robin Terry is our winner!

It is without a doubt I support Beasts of the Southern Wild for Best Picture of the year. Asking us to probe deeply into our own fears and dreams, in a way redolent of Where the Wild Things Are, this movie challenges our notion of safety, complex interpersonal reactions and joy. In a manner akin to magical surrealism, this movie transcends the ordinary in a way that makes you believe, just a little bit, that our inner monsters are real and our dysfunctional life is normal. The music, acting, directing and general tone of the film trigger all sorts of feelings in the watcher and it is fairly riveting in nature. I saw this movie twice and promoted it by writing the producers and having post cards to hand out to my therapy clients (I am a psychologist). I want to come to your party and jump for joy when they call this picture's "family" to the stage.

I don't know if the film will win Best Picture, Robin, but you and a guest will be able to watch in style at The Best Exotic Oscar Party as our guest. Congratulations! Please call me at 610-527-4008 x105 to claim your prize.

You can read all of the entries in the comments here.

Even if you didn't win this contest, you can still attend The Best Exotic Oscar Party. Tickets are available online here and in person at the Box Office. See you on Oscar night!

Win Two Tickets to BMFI’s Oscar Party!

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Manager, BMFI

If you have visited our atrium lately, you've seen that we've been busy decorating for our Best Exotic Oscar Party on Sunday, February 24. On that special night when filmmakers and stars gather together in the Dolby Theatre, local cinephiles will celebrate Hollywood artistry and glamour in style at Bryn Mawr Film Institute's Oscar Party!

This year, two film fans will attend as our guests! To win two tickets to BMFI's Best Exotic Oscar Party, make your case for which Best Picture nominee should win the Oscar this year. Submit your entry as a comment on this post by Thursday, February 7 at 6 pm.* Our staff will pick a winner based on the entries' persuasiveness and originality. The winner will be announced next Friday, February 8!

If you can't be in Los Angeles to rub elbows with Jessica Chastain and Daniel Day-Lewis in person, there's no better view than at BMFI; the stars will truly appear larger than life on the big screen during our live simulcast of the Academy Awards. Guests will sip cocktails from the cash bar and dine on a gourmet buffet dinner prepared by Catering by Design amidst exotic decor provided by Garden Accents and Janice Martin Couture. Traditional Indian dancers, music by the Philadelphia Mandolin & Guitar Ensemble, and a bazaar-style festival sale sponsored by Ten Thousand Villages will help transform the evening into something truly memorable.

*Please Note: When posting your comment, you will be asked to select a log-in from a list. If you do not have a Google account, etc., please select either 1) "Name/URL", which requires that you have a valid website address of your own, or 2) "Anonymous". If you select the latter, please be sure to sign your name in the post.

Reflections on the 2013 Art House Convergence

By Devin Wachs, Public Relations Manager, BMFI

Every year prior to the beginning of the Sundance Film Festival, staff and board members of art house theaters, film societies, and film festivals from across the country join together with distributors and film industry professionals in Utah to discuss the role of art house theaters in their communities and communicate concerns and solutions for the problems we face as independent exhibitors. Now in its sixth year, the Convergence is a wonderful way for far-flung organizations to come together and exchange resources and insight into how to improve our programming, fundraising, and outreach in order to better serve our diverse communities.

(Left to right) Andrew J. Douglas, Ph.D., Devin Wachs, Juliet Goodfriend, and Samuel R. Scott represented BMFI at the 2013 Art House Convergence conference in Utah.

This year, Bryn Mawr Film Institute was well represented, sending four delegates to the convergence. Juliet Goodfriend, our President, was accompanied by first-time attendees Samuel R. Scott, Chairman of the Board; Andrew J. Douglas, Ph.D., our Director of Education; and myself, Devin Wachs, Public Relations Manager. I am proud to say that the three of them were featured speakers and panelists, sharing the results of BMFI’s annual survey of art house theaters, and their knowledge of the non-profit art house theater model and creating educational initiatives.

We all took away different things from the conference, far more than we can put in a single post, but here are a few impressions that my colleagues and I would like to share with you.

Juliet Goodfriend, BMFI’s President:
What did I learn from my fifth Art House Convergence? That there is an endless amount to learn about running a mission-driven, community-based, independent art house. I keep typing “heart” house. Hey, that’s more than a typo. That’s what it takes to run an art house: heart. And management. And creativity. And stamina. Every year I delight in getting together with other executive directors and staffs, and, this year, board members, to talk about the challenges and successes that keep us going. This year’s goodies? Here’s one: Package a small film that cannot muster a full run with a major film that can. It would get more edgy, important, but not widely popular films shown. Now to get the distributors to agree!

Samuel R. Scott, BMFI’s Chairman of the Board:
As a first-time BMFI board person attending the conference (one of only a handful among all theaters represented), I came away with a sense of passion amongst all those attending, for good films, for operating the best theaters and organizations they possibly can, but most of all for playing an active role in the communities they serve. Needless to say, I came away with many fresh ideas. Likewise, it was extremely rewarding to confirm the ‘high place’ in which our peers regard both Juliet and BMFI.

Andrew J. Douglas, Ph.D., BMFI Director of Education:
One big take-away that I have from AHC was discussed in two sessions. Neither used this term, but I would refer to it as “organizational self-awareness”. The two presenters—on the topics of strategic planning and fundraising—made it clear that to be consistently successful in the long run, an organization has to know what it is, and what it isn’t; what it can do (well), and what it can’t; and what it does that no other organization (in its area) can. It has to incorporate this awareness into its mission, articulate it at every opportunity, let it inform every endeavor, and be one of the yardsticks by which it decides whether or not to undertake or pursue a new venture. It was largely this approach that drastically improved the fortunes of two prominent—and now thriving and sustainable—theaters, the State Theatre and the Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX. This is somewhat intuitive, though easier said than done, and I was surprised by the efficacy of disciplined adherence to it.

For my part, my first Art House Convergence was extremely informative, but the word that reverberates most in my mind is “community”. Steve Apkon from Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY gave a wonderful talk specifically about community, but the concept permeated the conference. It’s not just a buzzword; our commitment to serving our communities is what differentiates us from commercial cinema chains. We at BMFI are lucky to have such a strong, supportive membership base, but it’s not enough to say that we are a member-supported organization. We all must work to articulate our belief that we are here to serve the community through our programming, outreach, partnerships, and everything we do. On a similar note, the personality of the venue and its representatives is ultimately more important than the titles that are shown onscreen. As film scholar David Bordwell quoted in his keynote address, Marcus Loew once said, “We sell tickets to theatres, not to movies.” I want you to think of Bryn Mawr Film Institute as truly your community theater and your home away from home, and that is the environment that I work to create.

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Devin Wachs is the Public Relations Manager for Bryn Mawr Film Institute. She joined BMFI in 2005, following her graduation from Bryn Mawr College. If you send BMFI a message on Facebook or Twitter or are interested in onscreen sponsorships, she's the one who'll be in touch!

Win Free Tickets to THE LONGEST YARD and Tailgate Cook-off Tasting

By Seonne Baylor, BMFI Intern

Nothing beats football combined with mouth-watering food. Since I can remember, my parents have hosted yearly Super Bowl parties featuring many different recipes. (My favorite was always chicken wings smothered in BBQ sauce with a side of blue cheese.) On Tuesday, January 22, Bryn Mawr Film Institute is hosting a Tailgate Cook-off and a screening of the 1974 football comedy The Longest Yard, starring Burt Reynolds. “Big Al” Meltzer will introduce the film and sign his memoir about his years as a sports broadcaster after the screening.

Competition will reign on screen and off. Starting at 5:30 pm, talented cooks will present their best tailgate dishes for judging in the “first quarter” of the event. Anyone can taste the “touchdown” dishes starting at 6:15 pm for a $10 tasting fee, alongside additional favorites provided by The Grog Grill and beer from Victory Brewing Company. The “second half” of the event unfolds onscreen at 7:30 pm with the screening of The Longest Yard, in which Burt Reynolds plays a washed-up pro football player who winds up in prison and is given a chance at redemption when he and his jailbird teammates face off against the guards in a rigged football game. For more information, click here.

WIN FREE TICKETS:
Burt Reynolds, with his machismo and hot-shot attitude in the film, is “hot-dogging” it.

Win two free tickets to the film screening and tailgate tasting by telling us which tailgate food your favorite star reminds you of and why. Post your answer in the comment section below. Our favorite answer will win. The winner will be announced in the comments on Monday, January 21 at noon, so check back for the winner.

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